Absorbent articles such as sanitary napkins, pantiliners, and incontinent pads are designed to absorb and retain liquid and other discharges from the human body and to prevent body and clothing soiling. Sanitary napkins are a type of absorbent article worn by women that is normally positioned between the wearer's legs, adjacent to the perineal area of the body.
Typically, most of the disposable absorbent articles of the types mentioned above are made of materials that will not stretch. That is, the materials (and the article itself) will not stretch under the forces that the absorbent article is normally subjected to when worn.
The inability of the absorbent articles to stretch causes such articles to have a number of serious drawbacks. One of the most serious is that they are not as comfortable for the wearer as they could be. The wearer should ideally be able to notice a difference between an absorbent article that stretches to conform to the wearer's body and with the wearer's movements and an absorbent article that fails to stretch. Conventional sanitary napkins will also fail to move with the wearer's undergarments, causing the sanitary napkins to shift. Providing the sanitary napkin with stretch properties will permit the napkin to better conform to the wearer's undergarment and stay in place.
Several patent publications disclose absorbent articles having various components that are capable of stretching. Such efforts are described in U.S. Pat. No. 2,701,567 issued to Smith, U.S. Pat. No. 3,570,493 issued to Olsson, U.S. Pat. No. 3,653,382 issued to Easley, et al., U.S. Pat. No. 3,717,150, issued to Schwartz, U.S. Pat. No. 4,013,816 issued to Sabee, et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,041,949 issued to Kozak, U.S. Pat. No. 4,166,464 issued to Korpman, U.S. Pat. No. 4,533,357 issued to Hall, U.S. Pat. No. 4,573,991 issued to Pieniak, et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,578,070 issued to Holtman, U.S. Pat. No. 4,596,570 issued to Jackson, et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,655,760 issued to Morman, et al. U.S. Pat. No. 4,731,066 issued to Korpman, U.S. Pat. No. 4,847,134 issued to Fahrenkrug, et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,891,258 issued to Fahrenkrug, et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,965,122 issued to Morman, U.S. Pat. No. 4,992,324 issued to Dube, U.S. Pat. No. 5,011,480 issued to Gossens, et al., and European Patent Application 0 450 541 A2 published in the name of Morris, et al.
The publications listed above may disclose providing absorbent articles with one or more stretchable components. The present invention, however, is directed to absorbent articles, such as sanitary napkins, that in a number of embodiments are comprised entirely of components capable of stretching to accommodate the movements of the wearer and the wearer's undergarments. The present application also is directed to a vast number of embodiments for utilizing stretch properties to improve the fit of the absorbent article.
It is an object of this invention to provide an absorbent article, particularly a relatively thin absorbent article, such as a sanitary napkin, that is capable of extending, or more preferably, stretching.
It is a particular object of this invention to provide such an absorbent article that is capable of extending (and preferably stretching) in the longitudinal direction when the article is worn for improved comfort and fit.
These and other objects of the present invention will be more readily apparent when considered in reference to the following description and when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.